Object Description
An original life ring from the America’s Cup yacht ‘Shamrock’, Royal Ulster Yacht Club, the circular ring painted in gilt outlined in green ‘Shamrock V, R.U.Y.C.’, on a white ground, with the original rope handles threaded though canvas straps. English, circa 1899.
‘Shamrock’ was the first in a series of five yachts commissioned by Sir Thomas Lipton, and sponsored by the R.U.Y.C., to challenge for the America’s Cup. In the 1899 event they lost in three races to the New York Yacht Club’s ‘Columbia’.